Chinese murderer appeals death sentence

Wu Yuanchun, the Chinese migrant worker convicted of the gruesome murder of a 28-year-old woman in Suwon, today appealed his death sentence.

Police arrested Wu as he was chopping up the womanâ€™s body into 365 pieces in his bathroom in April following two failed attempts to rape her, the court heard. The 42-year-old was found guilty on Friday.

Park Jin-ok, senior manager of Amnesty International Korea, said yesterday the court should not have imposed the death sentence.

â€śThough Wu committed an act of atrocious barbarism, I disagree with the decision because capital punishment is inhuman,â€ť he said.

Many Koreans have posted comments online supporting the sentence following a national outcry that led to the resignation of the countryâ€™s police chief.

Numerous Chinese Koreans have also lent their online support to the courtâ€™s decision amid concerns their community may be targeted following the case.

â€śIt is just one Korean Chineseâ€™s crime. We should not relate it to all Korean-Chinese people,â€ť said Francis Lim Tong-il, president of the Korea-China Law Institute.

The case has also sparked fears in South Korea that Wu may have been involved in trading body parts after the court said in its ruling â€śhis motive was seemingly to provide human flesh for illicit purposes.â€ť

The victimâ€™s family has called for a reinvestigation into the killing, citing a recent case in which capsules containing human fetuses were found to have been smuggled from China into South Korea.

Prosecutors and police denied the courtâ€™s suggestion in Wuâ€™s case, arguing there is no market for human flesh in South Korea, adding it would be almost impossible to transport body parts to China.

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